Can't view SIR too much on procedural aspects, says SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI) "cannot be seen too much on procedural aspects" as it's not a routine affair.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi verbally observed that ECI is doing such an exercise after 20 years and hence the court would refrain from intervening "too much on the technical procedural aspects". The bench observed that SIR "cannot become an annual feature."

The judges clarified that oral observations they make during the course of hearing of a case are just a "dialectical thing" made in an endeavour to "evoke a response" from the counsels.


The bench said it has passed instructions to the court registry to not entertain fresh cases challenging SIR. "It is becoming unmanageable. Now more and more individuals are approaching the court only for popularity," it orally observed. "I don't think fresh cases are required," CJI Kant added.

The top court will continue hearing a clutch of pleas challenging SIR being rolled out by the poll body in different states on Tuesday.